Sports Camp

in the USSR, an institution for healthful recreation and sports training for children and young people enrolled in sports schools and the sports department of educational institutions. Sports camps are organized during summer and winter school vacations by sports societies, government departments, and bodies of public education, together with trade union committees, the Komsomol, and other organizations.

Sports camps organize various forms of recreation and healthful activities and provide sports training for children and young people; they also provide training and advanced training for instructors, coaches, and referees. They are set up in cities and the city outskirts at stadiums, sports and tourist centers, and palaces and houses of pioneers and schoolchildren. In 1975, there were 9,500 sports camps for more than 1 million children. Other countries also have various types of sports camps.